Altar Gates
-
Designer / Maker
Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-78)
Manufactured by Francis Skidmore (1817-96)
-
Detail
Brass, wrought and cast iron, with traces of polychrome painted decoration and hardstone cabochons (the supporting stand of later date)
71 x 117 x11 cm
English (Coventry), circa 1862
-
Provenance
By repute the Minster and Parish Church of Saint Peter-at-Leeds (Leeds Minster), 1839-41 by Robert Dennis Chantrell (1793-1872)
-
Notes
The design of the gates should be compared with the grilles on the Hereford Screen, now at the V&A; see The Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue of the International Exhibition 1862, p. 158; detail below.
See British Art Studies, Issue 7 (April 2017): https://www.britishartstudies.ac.uk/issues/issue-index/issue-5/hereford-intro For a discussion on the relationship between designer and maker, see, in particular, Alicia Robinson ‘Collaborations Between Scott and Skidmore’, https://www.britishartstudies.ac.uk/issues/issue-index/issue-5/scott-skidmore
The present gates have features in common with some of the best known nineteenth-century iron work produced by Skidmore. Examples, in addition to the Hereford Screen, include the Lichfield Screen, 1855-61 and the Albert Memorial, 1866-75.
See Huw Jones and Annette Wickham, Francis Skidmore: A Coventry Craftsman, Coventry, 2003.
No physical or documentary evidence has been found to confirm the provenance of these gates.